A Reason to Murder
by KairiVenomus
Summary: 7 college kids. One dead. ALL guilty. When Kai Smith receives a double-scholorship alongside his sister, he doesn't expect college life to be anything except boring. That is, until he meets a peculiar group of diverse boys he sort of befriends. But when things suddenly go awry, Kai and his new friends are left scrambling to fix their grave mistake and discover a reason to murder.
1. Prologue

**P-R-O-L-O-G-U-E**

It was the initial smell of smoke that tarnished the air. It was thick, and not to mention heavy, with a consistency that was enough to clog the lungs by just the first inhale. The taste of ash on your tongue was strong enough to make you gag, but even worse, it continued on even after you coughed, clinging to the lubrication on the inside of your mouth to create a never-ending reminder of the fire that started it all.

The second smell that laid beneath the rotting soot was the overwhelming smell of blood. The metallic stench accented the smoke, but worse, there was so much of it that it nearly outweighed the black fog in the air. The blood was a lake, and it too was taking over the lungs. It was an inescapable, sour taste that stuck to your insides worse than the actual soot covered your skin-like the scent alone was rotting your soul worse than the horrible act you had just committed.

There were six of them. They stood in a circle, all staring down at the crackling, hissing, _screeching_ fire that was starting to grow and grow before them. A tiny ember had emerged into a roaring feast, using the blood and its occupant as an accelerant. With a tremble in their bodies, they stared down at the fire. It was here, watching the red and orange flames lick across the corpse and dead leaves beneath their feet, that they all realized none of their lives would be the same. What had orchestrated here, a mere moment in time, had now become a terrible accent to the rest of their lives.

One could say it was the end of their lives as they knew it.

The hollering of voices far in the distance broke the human silence. What made up the group was five males and a girl was a hollow parade of has-beens, who had lost their souls the second they all agreed to this mess. Agreed to participate. Agreed to save one of themselves at the cost of losing the rest of them.

One of them was a young man who was normally prepared for anything, yet this had been far beyond them. His throat was tight, and his hands clenched and unclenched, as if the fighter in him was rearing to give a physical solution to a problem much bigger than a couple punches resulting in a knockout. His name meant 'unbreakable,' but now, he was starting to really doubt that. "We need to get out of here," said Kai quietly, his normally bravado tone suppressed by the shock and loss. "Before someone finds the body." The fire lit up the angular shape of his face, casting his golden eyes in a sinister shadow.

"Are you joking me? Somebody's going to find this eventually. It's a freaking fire in the middle of the woods by an abandoned fucking shed, and you expect me to believe that we have a chance of getting out of here without someone finding the goddamn body?" The hissing whisper nearly rose into a shriek as another boy raised his hands to his red hair and grabbed tufts of it in his fists, strangling at the normally well-kempt locks. His green eyes were huge and haunted. Afraid.

The broad-shouldered, dark-skinned man beside Kai looked with a dead, silver-eyed stare across the flames. "Jay, calm down." He rolled up the sleeves of his leather jacket.

"Calm down? CALM DOWN? How can you expect me to _calm down?"_ Jay stepped backward; in the light of the flames, it was easier to tell that his generally well-kept appearance was now as strangled as his hair was. The front of his blue checkered shirt was torn wide open, and underneath, a white undershirt was scored with splotches of telltale blood. "WE. JUST. KILLED. A. GUY!"

"Shhhhh!" Kai hissed at the same moment everyone else did. "Look, just shut up, alright? We need to play our cards right, and we can walk away from this, without being attached to this at all. We just…. We need to _think_ about this."

From Jay's side, the tall, lanky boy spoke next, his eyes rimmed with red underneath his thick-rimmed glasses, tears of fear having escaped his icy blue eyes. "We lost our time to think when we decided to drag this body out of that house and bring it out here." The boy, named Zane, was the type to always keep things factual and precise, but now, even his even-toned voice rang empty and defeated in the sickly night.

It was the big boy, Cole-a hunk of muscle and levelheadedness-that surprised Kai with his quick snap. "Watching a thousand reruns of _CSI_ isn't going to make for a good enough argument that we can make it out of this okay, Kai."

"Are you all prepared to just throw in the fucking towel then? Call the cops? Say, 'hey, look, guys, we just burned the body of a student but it's cool, we're turning ourselves in for it'?" Kai shot a look over the rising flames of the fire. The others, only three of them now paying Kai any attention, stared at him with more fear and worry than he was able to combat with his sharp glare.

It was his sister, the only girl of the group, who spoke up. Her face was streaked with black, her makeup running away from her eyes-almost like it wanted to hitch a ride on her tears and run as far away from this situation as it could, like all of them wanted to. "He's right," she said, her voice crumbling and weak. "We have to at least try to escape this. We've burned the body; we've already taken the first step in hiding our crime. Now we have to run with it."

At her side, Cole wrapped an arm around her body and tugged her against him in a halfhearted attempt to comfort her, where she thankfully rested her head.

"Is nobody else seeming to see that this isn't even _our crime?"_ Jay's whisper-hissing was about as hysterical as it could get. He looked like a crazed, caged man, all torn up, dried blood on his hands, and highlighted by the sinister shadows the flames caused. "Are you all forgetting we had no damn part in this?!"

"We _made it_ our business when we decided to get rid of the body!"

"Yeah, the body of the guy that _Lloyd_ killed!" In a sweeping gesture, Jay's arm lashed out to his left, where the only silent participant left stood still as a statue-the moment that the attention was turned to the boy, the toll that the murder had taken on him was obvious. His shoulders were slumped, and his pale skin was even whiter than normal, adding onto the trembling of his hands. He looked like a shrunken version of the self he'd been just an hour ago. Back when things were normal.

Back before it all fell apart.

Lloyd's golden hair fell across his eyes in shame.

"We're in this together!" Kai snapped, and he protectively felt his body shift toward Lloyd's. "Alright? We agreed to this, and now we're in this together!"

Zane peered over his shoulder into the darkness of the woods, cast in the shadow of midnight, before looking back at his friends. His big eyes were too wide. "We need to leave. There could be people from the party wandering in the woods anywhere."

"It's inevitable that someone's going to find the body." Cole swallowed, holding Nya against his chest, as across the fire, Jay paced like a caged animal, seconds away from punching a tree. "We need to get the hell out of here before someone finds us with it."

Kai nodded sharply in agreement. His mind, still buzzing with shock, was only able to process the world that came rushing all too fast at him by taking a hold of the reigns. He needed to get this heinous, crazy freaking...well, _murder plot_ under control. "Fine. Jay, handle Lloyd, get him out of here and as far away from here as you can get him without taking him so far off it's an unrealistic stretch. Make sure you get him a change of clothes, and some for yourself, too, as a matter of fact. Cole, you take my sister, and I want you to go put yourself into the scene of the party as much as you can to make it look like you were hanging around the whole time but snuck off to have sex or something." Reeling from the words that he couldn't believe had just fallen out of his mouth, Kai glanced up over the fire and swallowed, hard. "Zane, you and I can go clean up the rest of the mess left behind."

"Someone's going to notice strangers going in and out of _his_ dorm, you idiot," snapped Jay, his nerves alive and making him twitchy under the stress as he paced. "There's no way you won't get stopped."

"Everyone's too busy partying. If they're not screwing in one of the rooms, they're high or drunk and are partying elsewhere too much to care. They won't notice." Cole seemed pretty sure of himself-which wasn't surprising to Kai at all, considering he was the drug-addicted party animal-and took off his coat to wrap it around Nya's shoulders, before tearing open her shirt enough to make her look more sexually disheveled rather than the I-just-witnessed-murder bedraggled she was.

Kai swallowed hard, and looked at Lloyd. In the dancing flames' light, the flecks of blood that were still all over Lloyd's face, seeping through the shirt that Kai had quickly torn out of the dresser of the murder victim once he realized what had happened and shoved onto the frail-looking boy. It had hardly been enough, but it had been enough to fool people.

Kai turned to Cole. "Take care of my sister."

Cole nodded, planting a worried, chaste kiss on Nya's forehead, before wrapping his arm around her shoulders to start guiding her away. Nya turned and looked over at Kai as she was lead away, but what he couldn't help noticing was that her eyes slid past him and landed on Jay. Stayed there, as she walked away, as if she was terrified and wishing he was the one to come guide her away rather than her boyfriend.

Kai pretended not to notice that Jay had the same longing look on his face too. He turned to Lloyd as the flames of the corpse started picking up, getting higher, and higher, so that they were almost 4 feet now.

Wrapping his hands around Lloyd's tough yet slumped shoulders, he stuck his finger underneath Lloyd's chin and forced him to look up to him. Underneath the disarranged locks of hair in his face, Lloyd's baby blue eyes were bright with misfortune, guilt, sorrow-a mixture of so many emotions that Kai was getting dizzy trying to recognize.

The blood flecks, the spatter that had occurred from a bloody bashing, reminded him well enough that the terrified bookworm he was looking at was so much more than a pretty face.

"I'll come find you, when this is over," Kai promised quietly, squeezing Lloyd's shoulders. "I'm going to help you, Lloyd."

"I'm a killer," whispered Lloyd. "You shouldn't do it, you shouldn't have done this for me-"

"It's too late to take any of it back now, Lloyd." As if his body moved without his mind commanding it, Kai lifted the back of his hand and stroked it across Lloyd's cheek gently, soothing. "It's going to be-"

"Are you two done fucking each other with your eyes, because we need to _go. NOW."_ Jay snapped from behind Lloyd, his voice icy and harsh, irritable. Stress had turned his cheery mood into a total rupture of character.

Releasing his hold on Lloyd, Kai stepped back, nodding encouragingly at the blonde, who was quickly snatched by the elbow by Jay and dragged into the direction of the parking lot. Towards safety.

"What a mess. What a mess. What a mess..." Zane kept repeating as he started running up the side of the hill, the hill that was their only barrier between the raging party taking place at the fraternity household at the edge of the woods and the scene of a cover-up. Kai's breath was a stark white puff of smoke in front of his face as he raced to keep up with him. He kept his bloody hands in his pockets, glad for his dark jacket to cover the spots on his front half.

All the while he walked beside the man top of his class yet now so knee deep in this crime that not even his great test scores would save him from a harsh punishment from the law.

Kai could feel his bones aching as he mounted the hill with Zane, not yet realizing the complete magnitude of his actions and what impact it held upon his future. "Stick with me, kid," he said ironically as they raced towards the blazing sound of music pumping through the walls of the frat house, "and we'll get away with murder."


	2. Chapter 1: The Beginning

**Warning: This story** ** _will contain_** **adult themes/content. That means alcohol consumption, mention of drug use, strong language, sexual content, and of course, murder. These are** ** _ALL_** **directly described within this story. If you are sensitive to this sort of material, this is** ** _not_** **the story for you.**

 **Read at your own risk.**

 **...**

 **CHAPTER O-N-E  
** _3 Months Ago_

When Kai Smith stepped off of the bus with only his blazing red Corpuscule backpack and one hand-me-down leather suitcase dangling from his hand, his ears were already ringing. Not because of the tension his body was feeling under the pressure of knowing that he was about to step foot in a place he didn't belong. It was because his younger sister-who, he believed, often forgot she was in fact YOUNGER-was already lecturing him.

Kai stepped onto the sidewalk platform and reached up a hand to dig in his ear to make sure he wasn't deaf and the nagging resounding in his head wasn't just an echo. He had to turn his head and glance back at her as she took her turn getting off of the bright blue bus. Yet unlike him, she had loads of bags she was dragging in her wake, so many that she had to make a couple trips up and down into the bus before, eventually, the bus driver tossed out the last of her bags and peeled off the street.

Kai smirked as he looked at the mound of duffle bags, rolling suitcases, and one box that she had sitting at her feet. "How're you gonna trick a poor guy to carry those for you from all the way out here?" he joked, but he also knew all too well that she had intended on that from the start.

With a huff, his sister turned to him, flipping her bangs out of her hazel eyes. "I still don't understand why you couldn't have driven us here in YOUR car instead of making us take THE BUS to our new college," she said rather bitterly, turning to the giant wrought-iron gates in front of them.

"I told you three times now, Nya," he said, and though he would've liked to have seen her uncomfortably squirm trying to figure out how she was gonna get all those bags to the building, he knew he would have to come back and help her anyway. He bent down and scooped up another bag in his hand, but it didn't make a dent in the pile. "My car is impounded. I'm supposed to get it back in a couple of days."

Nya acted as though it was news to her, although he had told her 3 times on the way over here-though it was ridiculous to pretend she had even been listening to him in the first place."Impounded," she repeated incredulously, and picked up a few bags on her own. "Impounded!"

Kai snorted. "Look, either you can stand here and mope over it, or we can get moving. I'd rather not be standing here like a sitting duck waiting for some league of sorority girls to come marching down the street. The gate's that way."

"Don't act like that wouldn't be your cup of tea," hissed Nya under her breath as she filled every inch of her arms with straps of bags and her hands with rolling suitcase handles. Apparently, she had had the dying motivation to pack more than just every piece of clothing she owned... unless all those bags CARRIED every piece of clothing she owned.

The idea that anyone would need more than just the simple changes of clothes that Kai had brought baffled him, even after spending 18 years with his sister right on his tail.

"I never said it wouldn't be my cup of tea," replied Kai as he started strolling down the sidewalk, not bothering to make sure she could keep up. "I just don't need all those girls fawning over me yet. I prefer to settle in before I start staking out the prizes."

"You're disgusting." Nya was, in fact, way behind him. Every step, she pushed the box along with her foot, while her heavy-armed shuffle was very pathetic. Kai laughed sharply. "Like any girl is going to want a troubled, has-been-arrested-six-times-for-assault guy like you."

"Your girlfriends seemed to dig it when they begged to be in my bed last year."

Nya bristled even more, so badly that the air was spiny against Kai's back, but he couldn't help smiling at the triumph. There was no time, not even when they were both moving in to their dorms at Westbridge Institute, that wasn't the right time to try to tick off his sister.

But, apparently his jibe worked a little TOO well (he probably would be upset if he found out his sister was sleeping with all his friends too... if he had friends) because suddenly she was behind him, jerking him back by his sleeve and spinning his body to face her.

Kai had always given his little sister credit that she was tough as nails; he never worried too much about the independent young woman he was more or less forced to live with. But there was the occasional, overprotective moments when all he wanted to do was grab her and shelter her from the harsh world.

She may have gone through high-school as the perfect, straight-A student that everyone adored and would even die for, but Kai had gone through it seeing the darker side of the fence. He was more than just her loser brother with satyriasis and a knack for fighting douchebags off his case, which is how everyone saw him. He knew what the world was really like beyond her picture-perfect perception of her world. And Kai would give anything to make sure she didn't have to see it.

Which is why going to this college for her was one of the most terrifying things he'd ever heard come out of her mouth.

"Look, you freak," hissed Nya. His little sister was much, much shorter than him, but her grip was pretty damn tight. "You're only here and enrolled in this school because of ME. You wouldn't be here if I hadn't worked really hard to score a double-scholarship to the best school in the country. I scored perfect test scores on every little thing I took to get us HERE. So just keep that in mind instead of coming here with the sole intent of sleeping your way through half of the school, okay?"

A wash of annoyance crossed him. it wasn't like he had BEGGED her for this; he hadn't even asked for his overachieving sister to win him a scholarship because he didn't have the grades to pull it off. "I've already asked you a thousand times why you bothered to get that for us, to include me in it too." His tone was sharp. "I don't know why you wasted your energy."

"Because, Kai, that's what Dad would've wanted me to do!" When she said it, he felt them both freeze. The words didn't even appear to have slipped out of her mouth by accident, but a look of regret crossed her pretty face. Nya took a deep, angsty breath and sighed. "Look, I...before Dad died, he asked me to look out for you. You know he would've wanted you to get a good education and make something of yourself instead of falling apart and getting yourself into all kinds of trouble. You know that he wouldn't have wanted you to turn into this, this crimi-"

Kai winced. "Don't."

"But Kai-"

The damage, however, was already done. His body was trembling with sorrow, guilt, regret, and a thousand other things that came from mentioning his father's very presence, even when he was no longer here. "No, no, I get it. You need to remind me that I'm not worth much more than a sack of shit and couldn't have made it here with my own efforts unless you did the work for me. I'm the screw-up with the bad grades and a criminal record. Because I'm a loser, right? Because you're the responsible one?" he shook his head. "Have fun carrying those bags of yours." He pulled himself out of her grip so he could step back away from her. "This 'freak' has a dorm to move into."

"Kai, I didn't mean..."

The rest of her apology fell on deaf ears. He dropped her bag that he had picked up, the courtesy and slightly excited chivalry dropping out of him instantly. There was no room in himself anymore to sit and listen to her talk down to him Kai didn't even bother turning around to face her as he marched toward the open gates, where tens many more people were walking into, but plenty more driving into with their cars.

Dying to forget everything she had said to him, Kai lost himself in the crowd of strangers, instead sacrificing himself to the throngs of students who also were moving into this overcompensated school. He didn't want to be here. He didn't have any sort of desire to pursue some higher education in hopes that he could "make something of himself." Ever since he was born, his destiny had been the same, laid out for him by his parents when they began running their own business: One day, Kai would take over that business, a small blacksmith shop out in the country, and he would let it thrive under him.

But then...came the...the…

He was a fool to think about it. _It's stressful enough moving into this preppy college,_ he told himself with a sneer to his inner monologue, _the last thing you need to do is stress yourself out more by thinking about stuff that no longer matters. Get it together._

The school itself, up close, was pretty large. It spanned the entire block all on its own, and took up probably a trillion square feet, just glancing at the outside. Judging by its rough hewn appearance, this place had to have been here for more than just half a century; did he remember Nya saying something about it being one of the first founding colleges set up in the entire country?

The college itself was a giant, almost castle-like in its exterior; worn red brick expanded the first building before him, with narrow rectangular windows bedding on nearly every square inch of its face. The rooftop had dark blue shingles that, at every peak, seemed to curve outwards beyond the edge.

Sticking out of one of the buildings was joined by an elegant, white -peaked clock tower that stuck out of its breast, extending upwards towards the sky. Sort of demanding to look at, like the clock tower was begging you for attention.

Kai stared at the place he'd now call home for the next year, and felt a twinge of regret. Wishing that he'd told his sister it wasn't going to happen. Wishing, even, that he'd paid more attention when she said she would take him to sign up for classes-he didn't remember, exactly, what he had signed up for in the first place. The day had been a hazy blur, the result of an exhausting, drunken night before.

Oh God. Maybe he had taken child-care classes. Oh GOD. That was the last thing he wanted.

Someone shoved into his shoulder, causing Kai to stumble, nearly losing his bag to the nearby packed roadway. He whirled, instincts on edge, ready to fight whoever had shoved him-

But it was just a girl. She smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry," she said, juggling two thick, square brown boxes in her hand. "I couldn't see you around the boxes."

She had a pretty face, curvy body, and a nice smile. The wheels in Kai's head turned quick enough to evade having an awkward hesitation, but by the time he smiled one of his trademark half-grins, he already had a plan.

"Don't worry about it," he reassured her. "Do you need some help with those? You know, so you don't bump into some other poor guy standing by the road, who may be less understanding, and kind, not to mention attractive..."

The girl giggled. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to have help, especially if its from someone as kind, understanding, and attractive as you."

"Great," he said with a smile, and lifted one of the boxes out of her hands, giving her the chance to actually see over what she carried. "There. No blindness."

He walked alongside her, carrying her box toward the building with the entourage of people that flooded toward the front entrance like hawks. He flirted with her as they went, learning the woman's name was Camille, and that she came here looking for a degree in something too science-y for him to remember.

But helping Camille carry her luggage back to her room was only helping him, for a short time, evade the fact that he was supposed to be moving into his own dorm. Which he was clueless as to where he was supposed to go. He surreptitiously got the info out of Cami that he needed to talk to the front desk to get his key, to the room he was meant to be in, by showing proof of his studentness, blah blah blah…

By the time he had already made what he perceived to be an acquaintance in Cami, so much so that she asked him if he wanted to hang out sometime. Which, in his book, meant, "Let's get some drinks and sleep together sometime."

And hey, there was no complaints from him.

Kai tried to put some sort of confident spring in his step on the way back from the doorman's desk (apparently getting that key was a lot more difficult than Cami's short answer) as he walked two flights of stairs to get to his dorm. The halls were crawling with people his age and their misplaced belongings that spilled out into the hallway. Things he had to hop, skip, and jump around like some retro video game to avoid being hit with a falling lamp, ball being tossed between rooms, or guitar case that no doubt was housing alcohol and drugs instead of a guitar.

When Kai found his dorm room's door closed, he was a little surprised. Every other dark wooden door in this place was open and bustling with different activities. He pulled out the previous key he was given by the grumpy lady behind the desk (who undoubtedly seemed very amused by his attempts to flirt his way towards his key). After avoiding someone shooting a rubber band in his direction, Kai jammed it into the door and thrust it open. A moment's hope that maybe he was the first one here fleeted across his thoughts.

But when he opened the door, he realized he was quite wrong.

Propped against the far wall was an empty, naked bed in a old wooden frame that matched the doors. There was a single window above the bed, which was uncovered by a dusty old curtain. The walls were planked wood that had been covered in a rush by peeling old wallpaper that someone had not tried to repair after it tore off.

There was a dresser, against the wall, that was half thrown open.

Kai carried in his single, giant duffle bag and looked up at the person who was standing amid the messy room in surprise.

His new roommate.

The guy had a whole slew of boxes that were all thrown open. The bed had been messily dressed, like the task was just abandoned after fighting with it for so long, but pristinely folded clothes were still waiting there on top to be organized. The guy that stood before him looked at him with something of a curious hesitancy.

He had red hair that looked like it had been neatly combed back an hour ago but was now sort of messy, broken up by all the lugging. He wore a blue T-shirt that said "Optimus" on the front beneath a gray unzipped hoodie, and jeans.

"Oh," said the guy when he looked Kai up and down. "Judging by the fact that you got that door open with a key, you must be my roommate."

Kai's lips twisted at the tone of something like judgment in the man's tone. "Or maybe I'm a staff member coming in to tell you your pig sty of a dorm room is going to be dedicated fully to your roommate, and you can sleep in the lobby all year."

To this, the man snorted, and waved Kai away like he was some nuisance. He turned back to unpacking a clothing-filled box on his bed. "Yeah, those ratty clothes definitely don't belong to one of the esteemed staff members of this college, buddy." The man pulled out more neatly folded clothes. "I might've believed you if you said 'creepy janitor who lives in the dumpster', though."

Kai looked down at himself. "RATTY..?"

"Yep. Messy hair, flighty eyes, strained body language-you look more like the type of guy who is in a street fighter club than working at a college with a nice pay check." The guy didn't turn to him.

Annoyance passed through Kai's body, making him flex his fingers as he kicked the door shut behind him. But he was unnerved by the fact that this STRANGER was already making bad assumptions of him. "My hair looks great, thank you very much. I spend a lot of time on it in the morning." Kai tossed his duffle bag onto the blank bed, unaware that he was supposed to bring his own sheets. "And who the hell are you supposed to be? Some rich prick who's parents sent him here because they love their precious little redheaded kid?"

The man snorted, and after putting down a blue button-down on the bed, turned to Kai. His tongue was pressed to the inside of his cheek. "Look, dude, let's not start our first meeting off with this strangled agitation, alright? I'm stuck with you all year and I really don't want to start off the best year of my life with me wanting to throw my lamp at you."

"You started it!"

The guy's green eyes flashed. "Do you really want to do this?" When Kai didn't answer, he rolled his eyes, and stuck out his hand toward his roommate. Kai stared at the pale skinned hand with distrust. "Oh, my god, shake my hand already. I don't have rabies."

Kai reached up and shook the guys hand. "Fine," he said, making sure his grip was painfully tight. "I'm Kai."

The guy took his hand back and shook it from the intense strength that had ached his fingers. "My name is Jay," he said.

"Cool." Kai turned to his bag and unzipped it, starting to rummage through the small amount of clothes hed brought with him.

He could feel Jay's eyes staring into his back. "Wait, that's all you brought? You don't have anything else? No blankets, no lamps, no nothing?" By the crazy tone in his voice, it meant doing just that was uncommon.

Kai nodded. "I don't need a cavalry of belongings to survive, unlike some people." he threw a glance at all the boxes around him pointedly.

"Let me guess. You just need the clothes on your back and a flurry of fists to survive?"

Kai caught a joke in Jay's tone but his response was anything but friendly. "Gotta do what you gotta do to survive." When he found what he was looking for, he fished it from the depths of his bag and waved around the decorated bottle of fancy beer. Jay's eyes widened in surprise. "Now, don't tell me you've set a prohibition on this joint, because then we REALLY are gonna have some problems."


	3. Chapter 2: First Day

**CHAPTER T-W-O**

The first semester, according to the 351 pages in the rulebook _How Going to College When You're a Loser Works,_ is always the most difficult. You've managed to slide out of high school (thanks to your perfectionist sister's genius able to graduate early) and right into college, so now, it's your job as a human being to learn what you can so that you can become a working class citizen in Ninjago. Then, once you have graduated, you will succumb to taxes, mortgages, prenuptial agreements, and the other hellions of adulthood.

However, despite the _first semester of college EVER,_ there was the problem with the first _week_ of college _EVER._ That one was dubbed the most awkward week of being a college student, because that was the week where you had to figure out what, how, when, and all the rules of the territory of your new school. You had to configure to the personalities and expectations of your college professors and other peers as you fought your way through this undoubtedly stressful week of college life.

Despite there having been one day between the move in and the actual first day of class, Kai was less ready than ever to commit fully to learning in classes he didn't remember signing up for. His sister had been there at his side when he had done so, and with her brother seemingly too hungover to pay attention to the material in front of him, she most likely did the signing up _for_ him.

So when she banged on his door 30 minutes before morning classes started, Kai was expecting her. Though not quite so _early_ had he been expecting to see her sunshine of a face (catch onto the sarcasm there).

Her fists were rapid-fire against his door, like some sort of warzone had now claimed the title in the hallway separating him and his unknown peers. He knew it was her, even from the fog of half-naked sleep, because she used to knock on his door like that all the time when they lived back at the shop. Kai didn't bother suppressing the unhappy groan, though, as he pulled his head out from underneath his pillow, and was greeted by an equally unhappy sound from across the room where his roommate was sleeping.

Kai threw his legs over the side of the bed and groggily caught sight of Jay turning over in his bed. The bed, which was dressed with a neon teal color, was in disarray from a guy who didn't sleep peacefully. And the redheaded slumber master nested within the manhandled sheets was now shoving up his white sleeping mask so he could glare through narrow eyes toward Kai himself.

"Who the hell is that?" He hissed. Sleep was still foggy across his face, and there were some red marks across his pale cheeks from the tight straps of the sleeping mask. "It's way too early in the morning for visitors! What do you think you're doing? This is a conjoined room, dude! If your girlfriend is gonna come over at six o'clock in the morning, you should tell her to wait for you in the hallway!"

Kai pushed himself to his feet, making sure that his black sweatpants were tied up enough so they wouldn't drop in front of his sister, before running a hand through his hair. "I don't have a girlfriend," said Kai matter-of-factly. His bare feet padded across the weathered hardwood floors, floors that had no doubt seen things worse than an early visitor in the years it had been there, toward the door. "It's my sister."

"You have a sister?" The thundering continued against the door, but suddenly, the noise that woke them up seemed to fall on deaf ears. From the corner of his eye, he saw Jay sit upright suddenly, like a dog's ears perked up at the sound of a treat bag rustling.

It was, of course, something Kai hadn't told him. He hadn't spent his free day yesterday hanging around and buddying up to his new roomie that he no doubt would get very irritated with by the end of the week. In fact, he'd avoided hanging around his dorm at all, coming back from a day spent smooth talking college women at around midnight. Of course, Jay had already been sleeping, but neither of them said a word to one another.

Kai yanked open the door and leaned forward, his forearm pressing to the frame. Standing there, outside his door, was in fact his sister. He wasn't surprised that she was already completely dressed, hair done, makeup on; there was no warning of unfinished sleep hanging beneath her eyes.

But the snarl already taking place on her red-painted lips was enough to steer him away from any pleasant, jittery attitude. "What, no good morning?" Kai said smoothly, reaching out to snatch an iron-curled tendril of her shoulder-length hair.

"Don't even, Kai." Nya pulled away from his hand. He let it drop to his side. "You have to get up. Class starts in thirty minutes and you're about the slowest guy to get ready in the morning."

"Is that a new jacket?" Kai nodded toward the red leather one she was wearing, one that wasn't zipped all the way, with some long necklaces hanging out.

"Oh, my God. Did you even hear me?"

"Of course I heard you. I'm not dumb." His body automatically moved to stand up straighter, given that he wasn't wearing a shirt and now his sexily toned body was exposed, when a pair of girls walked down the hall behind Nya. He saw their eyes flash over toward him, and there was a familiar dance that sparkled in them—that many girls in the past had given him—but deflated when they saw Nya. They thought she was his girlfriend.

It made a small scowl come to his lips. Never in his life would he date someone like Nya. Someone so nitpicky, and perfect, and obnoxious…

Nya caught the look and followed his eyes over his shoulder, before she turned back to him, looking agitated. "Seriously, Kai? Can you just pay attention to me for five minutes without having your attention going somewhere else?"

Kai looked back down at her and wetted his lips with his tongue. "You asked if I heard you. I listen."

"No, actually, I said something after that, but apparently, your fascination still lies in bimbos rather than the real world."

"You did _not_ say anything to me."

From inside the room, a voice perked up. "Yes she did!" called Jay. There was a small thud. _Maybe he fell off the bed,_ thought Kai hopefully. "She said she copied down your schedule for you, with a map, because she knows you'll get lost!"

Nya nodded in agreement, but her eyes slipped past Kai, as if looking for a face to the voice. However, the search was lost; she wouldn't have been able to see Jay from where she was, which Kai was thankful for. The last thing he needed was that dork—who probably hadn't ever even touched a girl besides his own mom in his life—interacting with his sister. She instead slipped off her backpack, reached inside the open zipper, and yanked a thin packet of paper out.

"Here," she said, holding it out towards Kai. Annoyance was beneath her tone. "That's your class schedule, the room numbers, times, and a map. I've highlighted every room you have classes in, so you find them."

Kai took it from her and looked down at it. Reading was, thankfully, not so hard, because he hadn't drank anything the night before. But the thankfulness died immediately when he read what was on his schedule, he felt appalled.

" _Philosophy?"_ he read, or rather spat. "You signed me up for _philosophy?"_

"It'll do you some good," retorted Nya, crossing her arms as she slid her backpack back on. "You need a little direction in your life, and I hear that the professor is great."

"Where the hell did you hear that? Is it too late to change this shit?"

Nya rolled her eyes. "Yes, and I paid a lot of research into this, Kai. If you didn't like the classes I put you in, then you shouldn't have been wasted the day we came to sign up for them."

Kai wanted to say something snappy in return, something cutting enough to make her leave, but decided against it. Nothing he could argue would defeat the fact that she was very much right. As he read through the rest of the schedule—Toxicology? _Korean?_ What did she think he was planning on doing, here?—he shook his head in disapproval.

"What're you putting me in these for…"

"Being a police officer. I think with a year of background, it'll help you, Kai. I think you could do it. You'd be good at keeping the world safe. You might not see it, but I can see it in you, and with the right training and...rehabilitating your current practices… You could do it." His eyes raced up in surprise, but bedded within her own irises was sorrow. He could see it, despite that she did so well to hide it; spending all those years living with her alone, he could pick up on these things better than he could before they lost their parents. He saw the sorrow. The sadness. The mourning.

 _I lost you just like I lost Mom and Dad, Kai. You're not the same. I don't even know who you are anymore._

The memory of her words made him hiss and step back. Kai pulled himself from his own head and the treacherous sea of nausea, pain, and memory within it, that threatened to spill out of him like he had split at the seams. He had spent nearly three years keeping it all down. There was no point in breaking apart now.

His voice was hoarse and nearly a whisper. "Sure. Fine. Whatever. Police officer. Great idea." Nya looked startled, rather more from his jumpy reaction than his words. "Philosophy is my second class, yeah? I'll make it."

"How dandy!" Suddenly, there was a hand on his shoulder, and Kai jumped when Jay was suddenly at his side. To his surprise, Jay was fully dressed, though his hair wasn't neatly combed like it was yesterday. He wore a blue bomber jacket and dark jeans, while underneath he had on a crisp white tee; the kid cleaned up faster than Kai thought he could've.

But, he was very annoyed, because he knew why Jay had gotten dressed so fast. Because of his sister.

Jay smiled a very-white smile toward Nya, green eyes dancing. "I have Philosophy as my second class too. I can make sure he makes it there and doesn't mess up."

Kai wasn't nice about shrugging off Jay's hand, which was still parked on his shoulder. What he really wanted to do was shove him back, tell Nya goodbye, and make sure she never looked at him again; the protective brother in him wanted, more than anything, to keep her away from someone clearly more into the _Starfarer_ comics than anything actually, you know, not lame. (Not joking. He already had posters of that lame comic up on the wall.)

Nya looked at Jay quizzically for a moment, and before Kai could push Jay out of her sight, he weighed her reaction. To his delight, she didn't really have much of one. Her eyes didn't stay on Jay very long before they turned to Kai. "Please," she murmured softly. "Don't screw this up. Dedicate yourself to it. This is your one chance to turn everything around in your life, Kai. A new start. For both of us."

But Kai wasn't in the mood for any sappy talk. He sighed and put his hand on the door, hoping that he could block Jay from her view. "I will," he said. "Have a good day today, Nya."

Nya smiled a little, a real smile, but it didn't reach her eyes. She took a big step toward him and wrapped her arms around him, pressing her cheek to his chest, despite that he wasn't wearing a shirt. "I love you," she said softly. Quietly. "I'll come see you after my classes, if you're here."

Kai put an arm around her. In her high heeled boots, her head reached his collarbone; yet without them, she didn't barely make it past the middle of his ribcage. "Love you too," he said.

"Always?"

The word took the breath out of him. His thoughts turned blurry. The picture of his mother's face, leaning over him to kiss him goodnight as a child. _I love you both. Always, and forever._

He could barely choke out the rest of it, knowing that if he didn't, she would get upset, maybe punch him. "Forever."

When Nya let him go, he kissed her hair before she turned on her thick heel and was gone.

Kai closed the door behind her and fought to regain control of his thoughts. Alright. First class was Toxicology—what a demanding class to have to step into first thing in the morning—and then Philosophy. After that, some mumbo jumbo about—

"She is _so_ not your sister."

Kai sighed. That wasn't something anyone had ever told him—normally it was, "You two look like identical twins!" The two siblings looked more like one another than any other siblings Kai had ever seen, both with striking, almost gold eyes (though Nya's had a little more green in it), thick black lashes, dark hair, and light coffee-colored skin.

Jay was nearly bouncing with energy behind him, despite having been cranky and groggy minutes ago. Those eyes were too bright. Kai knew the look all too well. "She's like, I don't know, super organized and seems pretty intelligent and she's nice too and holy cow she smelled nice and not to mention she's…" Jay caught whatever word was going to come out of his mouth (It was probably "hot") and instead cleared his throat. _Smart boy._ "And then you're… Egotistical and smelly and detached and kinda careless."

The blunt, precise line between Kai and Nya that Jay was _so nice_ to point out like a thousand people before him made annoyance pass through his body. Good. It gave him a feeling, a strong feeling, to focus on. "She's my sister," Kai told him affirmatively through his teeth. He turned back to his bed, and tossed down the stapled map and schedule before snatching his duffle bag that he hadn't yet emptied and rummaged through it. "And you're not allowed to touch her."

"Wait, what?"

"You're not laying a hand on my sister." Kai repeated, and flashed his gut wrenching, piercing golden stare up at Jay. The other guy seemed not to cringe, though. "That means, you don't get to try to flirt with her, hug her, pat her arm, go within sniffing distance of her—do you understand me? She's the most off-limits woman you'll ever meet in your life. You two are obviously worlds apart."

"How would you even know that? You haven't exactly spent time trying to get to know—oh gROSS DUDE—me." Rather than being annoyed, Jay sounded more startled than anything as he lashed up a hand to cover his face when Kai pulled down his pants.

"You're right, I haven't. And I don't plan to." Kai pulled on a fresh pair of black jeans and surfed through his duffle bag for a shirt. "She's a genius. Brilliant. Able. Independent. Artistic. Machiavellian. Worthy of having the world in her hands. You? Not so much."

"Dude, I'm having a hard time believing you know what _Machiavellian_ means."

"But I do." Kai pulled out a red sweatshirt and his favorite, well-worn _Corpuscule_ band shirt. He tugged it on over his head. "And you, Jay, do not deserve that girl. So don't touch her, or I swear to God, I'll ruin you."

Jay's face twisted. He was already across the room, rummaging through his backpack. "Seems a little bit of overkill, there, Fido."

"No. It isn't. You know what she needs? A rich guy, who will make sure she never has to worry about anything, worry about _poverty_ , again." Kai marched himself to their bathroom and flicked on the cheap, blinking lights. His heart was heavy as he thought of all the things Nya needed—things that would sweep her off her feet and take her away from him. Keep her from his terrible existence. "So keep your gross, geeky hands off her, alright?"

Jay sounded very offended from the other room. " _Gross_?"

Kai snatched his toothbrush and ran it underneath the water. "You heard me."

"You know, man, you don't have to be such a dick, alright? I didn't want there to be any shit between us. I don't hardly know you, and you don't even know me, but you're already whipping out your Asshole Hat. No wonder you don't have any friends."

Kai felt his body tense. Two days ago, which was technically the last time he had spoken to his roommate, after he'd chugged his bottle of beer that he'd snuck in, Jay had given him a look. Not so much a judgemental one. It looked more to Kai like he was grossed out by the idea of someone drinking alcohol in his presence. Like he couldn't understand why Kai was doing it.

Jay had shaken his head and sighed. " _Let's start over, alright? I think we could be friends, or something. You know? Roomies, who are also buddies?"_

" _I don't have friends. I don't want friends. I don't need them."_

" _What? Everybody needs friends."_

" _Not me."_ Kai had tossed the empty bottle in the trash, kicked his bag underneath his bed, and marched to the door. Jay had been radiating vibes, too _good_ vibes, that had been starting to make him feel nauseous. He'd left after that, to roam, to explore, leaving the redhead staring quizzically at the door he'd escaped through.

Now, Kai dug his nails into his palm that wasn't holding the toothbrush and resisted stomping out there and throwing a punch at Jay's cheeky face. He heard rummaging—angry rummaging—coming from Jay's side of the room.

But he stopped himself from doing what he would've done days ago, before he'd come here to this school he didn't belong to.

" _Don't screw this up. Dedicate yourself to it. This is your one chance to turn everything around in your life, Kai. A new start. For both of us."_

Maybe he could make this work. This new start, thing. Maybe there were miracles in the world, and he could fight off his alcoholism. Maybe he could start getting himself on those herbal treatments Nya had always fought to get him on, the ones that would help him save himself from the hypersexuality he was plagued with (which he never complained about, because to Kai, he never saw anything wrong with it.) Maybe he could learn to control himself, and stop fighting people so much. Fight down his anger issues instead.

But there wasn't a moment left to spare him. He didn't have time to apologize to Jay, or maybe start over. He heard the two angry thuds of someone getting on their shoes while standing before the jingle of a backpack being thrown on. "I guess I'll see you in Philosophy," grumbled Jay as he nearly stormed past the bathroom door to the exit. The door slammed behind him a second later.

Kai sighed, and braced his hands against the counter. He hung his head over the sink for a moment. Could it really be possible? Starting anew? Could he turn himself into someone else?

Back into the guy he used to be? Or was he forever damned by his own, falling personality that he would never be able to climb out of the hole he'd dug himself into?


	4. Chapter 3: Perfection

**CHAPTER T-H-R-E-E**

Standing near the fountain in the center of the courtyard, Cole Mitsuhide replaced the newborn cigarette he'd just lit back into his mouth and let his eyes fall across the distance. He wasn't exactly seeing anything as he looked, absentmindedly watching the air in front of him without registering the image into his brain; as he did so, his fingers were already searching his pockets for one particular item. When they fell upon the crisp folds hidden within his leather jacket, he pulled it out, and held it between two fingers at his side.

"This," he said, and the wad of money he retrieved waved in his hand, "is the easiest money you'll ever come across, besides being some sort of sex worker. Which is probably easier. So this is the second easiest money you can ever make." He turned his head to the side. "This big stack of moola? That comes from selling one pound. You wanna pay for that handsome dollar amount on your college tuition? This is the way to do it."

At his side, the guy he'd befriended over the past two days glanced at the stack of money like it was a joke, and rolled his eyes. It was an odd look to give to a problem-solving asset for someone who claimed to be having money troubles, but then again, this wasn't the first time since they'd met that Cole realized this guy was a different kind of duck.

"That?" The guy gestured to the wad of money with his own cigarette, refraining from placing it back in his mouth. "Are you telling me you're a drug dealer and that's where that money came from? Because if so, I don't believe you for a second." Now he put the cig back in his mouth and took a nice, long drag on it. "You probably scored that from your rich daddy who's funding this whole escapade to college, and you're eager to show it off to me because after class today we can go binge buy shit and get fucked up on beer."

Yet another surprise from him without getting much cluing in from Cole. Cole's thick black eyebrows disappeared underneath his long bangs for half a second before he replaced the money in his pocket. "Alright, so you caught me, Morro. You want a trophy?" There was no point in keeping up the charade, Cole realized after a moment. In all the times he'd tried to lie his way into seeming like one tough cat since he met Morro, not once did it actually work; it was like his new acquaintance had lie-detecting powers. And Cole was _not_ a bad liar.

Morro smirked and kept the cigarette in his mouth. "Nah. It was obvious you're not a dealer. You're just a buyer, right?" He didn't look at Cole as he said the statement more obvious than the concept that Cole happened to do some drugs. He just half-stood there coolly, leaning back a little from his seat on the edge of the fountain.

On the outside, Morro was some sort of untouchable and, based on the reactions of all the cute girls they'd come across in the parties from the past few nights, attractive guy about to stake his claim here at Westbridge. His hair was black, fell down to nearly his shoulders, and definitely shinier than Cole's; though he had a bad case of fucked up eyebrows, that hardly stopped people from staring at him. He had this angular face and sculpted nose that apparently people found attractive. But the thing that was most captivating about the pale-skinned stranger was his eyes. There may have been seemingly eternal, dark half-moons underneath them, but the color of his irises was too stark and shocking to look away from: neon green.

Cole suspected they might be colored contacts, but if they were, Morro hadn't given up the jig just yet.

So now, here they stood, watching people flocking by to get to the heart of Westbridge Institute, where the morning classes would soon begin. (Those students were called Mornies, as Morro and Cole had decided during their 'bonding' time.) Cole was pretty sure Morro was only people watching, since the guy seemed to be only mildly interested in romance—he barely glanced at any women _or_ men that they'd come across during their attendance at the celebratory parties here at the frat houses. He didn't flirt. He didn't wink. He didn't even grind against dance partners.

Maybe he was asexual.

It didn't matter, anyway. Cole really didn't care all that much. As he took another drag on his cigarette, _his_ attention was directed at the crowd solely because he was looking for someone to tack his eye onto. Back in high school, his broad and muscled physique had gotten girls to hang all over him, but having them all lying there at his disposal wasn't always that fun. What he really wanted to do was find some gorgeous woman that he could try to date.

Dating was more of a sport to him than a commitment, or at least, that's how he wanted to portray it. But within, the idea of romance was exciting. Fresh. Even if he might seem like a worthless party animal, he wanted to fall in love, and this school had the best pickings for his tastes.

To his dad, though, this school was the best for _his_ taste because he thought it could teach his son something worthwhile, since Cole downright refused to go to that Marty Oppenheimer School of Performing Arts…

Morro seemed to be paying close attention to the silence between them. His finished cigarette fell from his hand and was quickly squashed under his sneaker against the cement sidewalk. "Find one yet?"

Cole feigned nonchalance, but his eyes didn't stop moving through the tiny little crowds of people. Most people walked alone. Others, who had already seemed to make friends during the parties or otherwise, travelled in cliques. "Find one what?"

"A babe," pronounced Morro like Cole's first language wasn't Ninjean. "You want one, right?"

"You don't?"

Morro shook his head, poking out his lower lip. "Nah," he said. "Not interested." He popped a stick of gum into his mouth.

Cole shook his head. "Because you're gay?"

"Fuck, no." Cole laughed at him, and Morro shook his head, pushing up the sleeves of his black leather jacket. "I just haven't weighed in whether or not any of these bimbos is worth my time."

"Ah, right. I forgot. The Almighty Morro needs a Queen fitting enough for his beauty or some shit, right, amigo?" Cole grinned. He was shoved gently aside by Morro when the neon-green eyes rolled in his head.

Morro's response, however, was less than joking. It came from his throat, serious, his eyes panning across the courtyard at all the distant faces, as if the answer was nowhere to be found. "I need a Queen, but none of these bitches has proven that they're worthy."

"Alright, alright, I get it." Cole paused, smirking, and pointed with his cigarette. "Not even that leggy blonde over there?"

"Are you trying to get me to shove my foot up your ass, or…?"

Another laugh from Cole. There was something about the stranger that he'd bumped into by accident at the frat party taking place on Friday that drew Cole to him. Maybe it was the fact that they were similar. They both shared the same thoughts and insights (for the most part.) They were both into the same things. He got along well, better than he expected, with Morro.

It could be the start of a beautiful friendship.

But just as Cole was standing there, finishing off the rest of his laughter and grinding the toe of his shoe into his discarded cig, something changed. Morro looked up and to the side, because there was the unmistakable sounds of high heeled shoes on the cement. Cole glanced up to follow the gaze and found there was a girl, rounding the fountain, and she was about to pass right by him.

He laid eyes on her, and things just...shifted.

She was gorgeous. Her hair was dark, so dark of a brown it could've been black, reaching to her shoulders—just a little longer than Morro's, actually. Her flawless skin was the perfect shade above milky coffee. Her face was heart-shaped, symmetric; she had a straight nose and full, red-painted lips that Cole couldn't stop looking at. Her perfectly shaped black eyebrows hooded her golden-hazel eyes, which were rimmed by full black eyelashes.

And her _body…_ Her jeans were like leggings, running over every sculpted, thin muscle, and her hips were perfect curves. Speaking of curves, her waist was a healthy thin, and her _chest…_ Cole smirked in delight. She was a well-endowed young woman, and the cleavage just barely she showed off was already making him warm.

 _She's the sexiest goddamn thing I could've possibly seen today,_ he thought, and straightened his back as the girl walked up around the fountain. She had on a red leather jacket that caught his eye.

This was her. _This_ was the one he wanted.

"Hey," Cole purred smoothly. His voice drizzled from his lips, taking on the husky, melodic tone that often captivated girls' attention. Cole got to his feet and flashed her a friendly but sexy smile.

The girl looked over at him and Morro, who hadn't moved an inch and instead sat there snapping his gum obnoxiously. But she didn't slow her pace.

"Where you headed?" He asked in the most stupidly vague thing that could've come out of his mouth, and there was little he could do to stop himself from kicking his own ass for saying that. Of course she was headed to class. Idiot.

The girl snorted. "The moon."

"Not bad, not bad, but the moon is cold." commented Cole. He felt very unusually flustered by her. He'd met plenty of pretty women in his lifetime, but she...she was _beautiful._ Perfect. And he _had_ to have her. "I'm on my way to Venus, myself. It _is_ the hottest planet. Someone like you who matches that atmosphere should definitely join me there, instead."

The girl looked plenty amused by his attempts, but he _did_ notice her pace had slowed. Ka-ching. That meant he was getting her attention. "You'd die. Venus is made of carbon dioxide, not to mention acidic clouds in its entire atmosphere, which is why it's the hottest planet. So you're implying I have an acidic, smelly, and deadly atmosphere. Which is something an asshole would say."

From behind him, Morro barked a laugh; it rang through the air. Cole could feel the embarrassment making his ears hot. "Damn, Cole. She owned your ass."

The girl seemed to derive pleasure from seeing the smile drop off of Cole's face, and she tried to pick up her pace again, move past him. But before he could catch his movements he reached out a hand to stop her. "I'm sorry. That's not what I was implying. You're not smelly or… all that other stuff." The girl stopped, holding onto the strap of her messenger bag tightly. But for once, Cole couldn't read her emotions. "I was just trying to be witty and cute but, well…" He smiled. "Your intelligence overruled my lame stupidity."

The girl actually cracked a small smile. It wasn't a big one, but the victory was enough for Cole to want to break out in dance. "Yeah, maybe brush up on your facts first before you go trying to make yourself sound smart in front of a science major."

Cole smiled his killer smile at her. She didn't flinch. _Dammit._ "I'll have to remember that for the next time we meet," he murmured alluringly. "Until then, there's one thing that you _can_ get out of me that I actually know to be one-hundred percent true."

The girl smiled a little more. He was slowly but surely breaking the icy walls that she'd built around herself. Probably because she was always getting hit on; no way a girl like her was ever left alone. "And what might that be?" She said back in a tone that made him want to dance even more. She was _flirting._

Cole grinned and pulled a pen out of his jacket. "My number."

Behind him, Morro made a comment under his breath about Cole being smooth. Likewise, the girl laughed; the sound sent little shocks through Cole's body. It was like wind chimes crooning in the wind. "I don't even know your name."

Cole reached out his hand to hers, making sure to look at her under his lashes. That always killed the girls. "I'm Cole," he introduced softly, dulcet tone finally taking full shape.

She reached out her hand to him. "I'm Nya." Her hand didn't have time to escape his before he swiftly pulled it towards him so he could use his pen to scribble his number onto her arm. It wasn't the prettiest pickup situation he'd ever done, but Cole was pretty confident in thinking that he'd done a successful job of reeling Nya in. She was intrigued. She wanted more.

"There," he announced when he was finished graffiting her arm, and put his pen away. Nya seemed… Surprised? That he'd written on her arm, and glanced at the black ink's scripture for a second before letting her arm fall to her side. "Don't hesitate to drop me a text or call."

There was apprehension in Nya's face that made him a little worried that maybe he didn't have this one in the bag like he hoped he had. She shifted on the thick heels of her boots like she was afraid to even dare. "And tell me, Cole, how many girls have you done this to today?"

"Just you." Honesty poured in his soft eyes, and he stepped aside for her to pass him. Nya raised her eyebrows and started walking again after hesitating. "Until we meet again, Nya."

"Maybe."

Cole stepped back and watched her go, eyes trailing down her form. The way she walked was even alluring and tempting. He backed up until his legs hit the edge of the fountain and didn't look away until she had disappeared into the building. That, he had to say, had gone pretty well, for the fact that he'd screwed up in the beginning.

His heart was, against his own will, beating fast in his chest. He couldn't explain it, other than an excitement, a desire within him that he normally didn't entertain. She was the one. He had been sitting here spending the morning keeping an eye out for some average woman who may be slightly interesting, someone he could start a thing with, have some sexy fling, and then be done with weeks later.

But Nya?

God, she'd been… More than he'd expected, and now, he may very well have her under his thumb. If not, he'd try until she was. Cole would've been a fool to pass up the chance to flirt with a girl like that.

Morro was smirking mockingly from his side as Cole came down from his high to look at him. "Well done, there, Romeo," he intoned, and then shoved Cole's arm again. "You are _such_ a fucking wet corncob. I'm not even kidding. That was some corny shit."

"I was caught off guard," said Cole to his own defense. "Didn't you see her? She was… Wow."

"For Christ sake, speak with your big head and not your little one." Morro rolled his eyes and thunked Cole's skull to make a point, but it was like it all echoed off the inside of his mind. "She was average at best."

"You've proven that your tastes are factually very very tiny and you're not interested in looking at women, so your opinion is invalid." Cole leaned back on his palms and sneaked another triumphant smirk. "I want her."

"Something tells me, Romeo," Morro said as he got to his feet, pulling his bag up onto his shoulder from its place on the ground, "that you won't stop until you _do_ have her."

Cole followed his movements, standing up, but he didn't have a backpack to drag up with him. "She already _is_ mine," murmured Cole as he turned his eyes toward the door Nya had left him through. "She just doesn't know it yet."


End file.
